


fly across the world in secret

by SilchasRuin



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark Rey (Star Wars), Drama, Empress Rey (Star Wars), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Happy Ending, Evil Family Feels, F/M, Force Bond Shenanigans (Star Wars), Force Ghost(s), Humor, Rey is a Palpatine (Star Wars), Romance, Smuggler Ben Solo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:41:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29459154
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilchasRuin/pseuds/SilchasRuin
Summary: Rey Palpatine, Empress of the Sith, wants nothing more than to discard the chains of her past and forge a future for the Empire that is worthy of her grandfather's legacy. But when an unusually persistent Force apparition begins to haunt her waking hours, she finds herself forced to confront the world she left behind in order to unravel the mysteries of the present.As the web of lies surrounding her becomes more and more fragile, Rey's determination to revitalize the Empire of her dreams only grows stronger.But is there room in this new world for both her grandfatherandBen Solo?
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Phasma, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	fly across the world in secret

In her grandfather’s stories, the seat of the Empire was a thing of brutal beauty; a place where the opulence of the former Senate had fallen away to reveal a vast auditorium of webbed glass. Each clouded strand had its place in the pattern, filtering the dying light of degenerate Coruscant so that it would perfectly illuminate the halo of spines radiating from the Emperor’s dark throne.

Rey had pictured what that lost throne must have looked like a thousand times. In her head, she’d run her fingers gently over the control panels sunken unobtrusively into the flared armrests; imagined the top of the throne curving over her head as fiercely as if her mind could have summoned it from the depths of ruin to shelter her from the burning glare of Jakku’s sun. To her, the Imperial Palace had been her truest home, even if she had never seen it.

The _Finalizer_ was absolutely nothing like the Empire of Rey’s dreams, and she hated, hated, _hated_ every second spent having to wander its irritatingly functional decks.

Sure, she’d grudgingly admitted to Hux that the black-and-chrome color scheme wasn’t _all_ bad. But it was uncomfortably similar to the planet she’d sworn never to return to – a dark mirror, as unfeeling and impersonal as the desert in its machine-stamped perfection, yet somehow always managing to stay ever so slightly colder than anyone in their right mind would have considered tolerable.

Somehow, the insidious chill of the air was even more annoying than Jakku’s constant, unbearable heat.

“Good,” Grandfather Sheev whispered into her ear. “Let the hate flow through you, my beloved granddaughter.”

For a moment, Rey teetered on the verge of snapping at him – surely it could not be _that_ hard to maintain decent temperature control systems on their flagship, of all places – but she restrained herself just in time. It wouldn’t do, to snap at Grandfather.

After all, he was the only one who’d bothered to try and save her.

“-really think you should reconsider.” The voice was loud, impatient, and utterly unlike the soothing rasp of her grandfather. Rey looked up from under her hood, raising her eyebrows. “Empress,” Hux added hastily, realizing that she was actually listening to him.

“Yes to the expansion of our propaganda arm,” she said. “Make sure you get interviews with some of the survivors of that Jedi encounter. Yes to the production of another two Resurgent-classes, as long as you switch the part suppliers. And no,” she said sharply as Hux opened his mouth. “We are _not_ going ahead with the plans for ‘Starkiller Base.’”

“But, Empress-“

“No, Hux,” she hissed. “My word is final.”

Hux scowled, holding out a datapad. “I have personally redone the calculations. One strike could easily devastate the centralized bulk of the New Republic fleet, let alone their planetary bases.”

Try as she might, Rey couldn’t figure out where Hux’s obsession with the stupid base had come from. Privately, she thought it was some sort of male overcompensation thing, not that she’d ever repeat that to Grandfather. “The Empire has tried this strategy before,” she reminded him. “Twice. It never works.”

“But it did work, Empress,” Hux insisted. “The Death Stars represented the pinnacle of Imperial ingenuity-“

“And they crippled us when they were destroyed,” Rey snapped. _And perhaps,_ she thought, not for the first time, _if the bulk of our strategy hadn’t been limited to ‘build a bigger weapon,’ Grandfather might not have died-_ “Do not make me repeat myself,” she said, and whatever threads of anger made it into her voice were sufficient to make Hux shut up at last. 

“Granddaughter,” Sheev Palpatine whispered again as she turned on her heel to stride away. The hint of disappointment in his voice was enough to wrap icy claws around her heart and _squeeze._

“You said the people themselves elected you as their leader, with thunderous applause,” she murmured, knowing that he could hear her. “If we are to bring stability and acclaim to the new Empire, it would be inadvisable to start off by blasting several of our planets off the map.”

Her grandfather hummed thoughtfully. “To start, perhaps. And afterward?”

Rey hesitated for a moment. She still thought that Starkiller Base sounded like a fantastically stupid idea, but perhaps it might have some use as a deterrent. And agreeing to its construction might actually manage to get Hux to stop whining for five minutes of his life. “I will consider it,” she said at last.

Rey glanced around the empty corridors stretching out in front of her one last time before allowing herself to turn around. The shimmering, blue-tinged form of her grandfather hovered in front of her, his features partially concealed by the hood which she had modelled her own imperial attire after. Simple, yet practical; a model of their commitment to the people of the Empire, without wasting time on useless fripperies as the old Republic had done.

“I will carry on our legacy, Grandfather,” she whispered, reaching out towards him. “Your vision will be immortal. I swear it.”

With a gesture, Grandfather Sheev drew his hood back, the scars he’d earned when the Jedi had betrayed him stretching across his face as he gave her an approving smile. A rush of fondness filled her at the sight of his sunken, glowing eyes, crinkled with happiness that was for her and her alone. For a moment, it seemed as if he would say something further, but his image stuttered and roiled as he began to raise his hand in return. A frustrated scowl flashed across his features as he struggled to hold on, his crooked teeth gritted as if in immense pain.

“Go, Grandfather,” she said urgently, knowing the strain that it caused him to manifest himself so far away from their home. “I will see you-“

His ghost blinked out of existence, leaving Rey alone in the sterile halls of the _Finalizer_ with the distant echoes of stormtroopers in her ears and a deep, bone-chilling weariness in her heart. She was so _tired_ \- tired of the steady logistical grind that permeated seemingly every aspect of rebuilding the old Empire, tired of the stupidity of the Republic core worlds, tired of longing for the life that could have been if she hadn’t been thrown away on Jakku by her parents.

But she was no longer Rey, the nameless scavenger desperately trying to build a future out of others’ discarded scraps. She was an empress, a Palpatine, and her kingdom no longer had room for any weakness.

She wrapped her frustration and anger around herself, feeling the power of the Dark Side sing through her veins. As a welcome distraction, she began to review the Sith alchemical techniques that she would use to create a Force beast of her very own to aid her dark communion, just like Grandfather’s darling chrysalides-

-and there, standing in the middle of the hallway with an absolutely gobsmacked expression on his face, was a scruffy-looking man in some sort of leather vest and a decidedly non-regulation unbuttoned shirt, staring _right_ at her.

He’d probably heard _everything_ she’d said to Grandfather.

With a shriek of rage, Rey drew her lightsaber, carving its blade across his chest in a single, frenzied arc. The tip scored deeply into the floor as she withdrew, prompting a scowl – Hux would probably bitch about the mark on his precious flagship for hours, not to mention the bisected body in the hallway -

“What the kriffing hell is _wrong_ with you?!” 

Rey’s eyes widened as she stared at the intruder, who was most decidedly _not_ bisected.

No, he was alive, well, and currently engaged in a one-sided shouting match with the Empress of the Sith on the Imperial flagship. He stabbed at her accusingly with a grease-stained finger, an impressive scowl twisting his long features; the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that he was still sprawled on the ground at her feet.

She twirled her lightsaber in her hand, stabbing idly at him again; to her astonishment, he scuttled backward on his hands like a particularly long-limbed crab, dodging her strike.

“Hold still,” she hissed.

The man scurried further away. “No karking way, you psycho!”

She tilted her head, frowning down at him. It was as if he didn’t even know who she was, which was surely impossible. And yet, her saber had passed through him, which was another impossibility – impossible for anyone other than Grandfather, that was –

Rey reached out with the Force, feeling the lightning building beneath her fingertips. And _there_ \- she hadn’t imagined it after all; he was there in the Force, a dull spark that flickered like a candle in a storm. Barely there, but present all the same.

“Who are you?” she demanded.

“Kark that,” the man retorted. “Who the kriff are _you?_ And where the kriff am I?”

Of all the insolent, stupid – She raised her arms again, planning on electrocuting him only a _little,_ if that was even possible through the infinite mysteries of the Force. The sound of booted footsteps racing down the hallway was only a momentary distraction, but it was enough.

The strange man’s eyes widened as he stared behind her. _”Kriff,”_ he said once again, with feeling. Then, with a flicker, he vanished from existence.

“Empress!” Hux advanced alongside a squad of faceless troopers, scanning the corridor warily. A scowl flashed across his face as he caught sight of the saber mark scarring the floor, but he wisely said nothing on the subject. “We heard the sounds of a disturbance.”

“And?” Rey snapped, mind racing. She was well accustomed to concealing Grandfather’s presence from others, even if they were unable to physically sense him in the Force. Although she wanted nothing more than to interrogate Hux about the man she’d seen, Hux was irritatingly suspicious by nature. She could not risk exposing her connection to Grandfather, or to the place that they only knew. Not yet, at least.

“And?” Hux parroted. His frown was replaced seamlessly by an oily smile. “We came to your aid, of course, as dutiful compatriots.”

Rey bared her teeth at him, not missing the implied insult. _“And,_ did you see anything to justify such touching concern?”

Hux shrugged contemptuously. “The Force is said to work in mysterious ways, Empress.”

Her lips peeled further back. Sometimes, she rather appreciated Hux’s perpetual sarcasm. Sometimes, she wished she could just choke the life out of the insolent fool and be done with these petty games.

But she wouldn’t, of course. The Empire was _better_ than the Republic. She would follow in her grandfather’s footsteps, rewarding the most efficient of her servants rather than electrocuting them on a regular basis. She would save her wrath for those who deserved it, like the rebels spreading groundless sedition, or the Jedi assassins who had struck the Emperor down.

And hadn’t she liked Hux well enough, once? Hadn’t she found their constant exchanges to be a refreshing change of pace from the constant parade of sycophants and cowards she had to deal with? Amusing, even?

For some reason, it grew harder and harder to remember that fact with each passing day.

Hux cleared his throat. “Empress,” he said, bowing low to the ground before beating a hasty retreat. The troopers formed a wall between the two of them as he vanished around the corner of the hallway.

It was almost as if he’d been genuinely afraid of her, for a moment. But that was silly. Hux was loyal – more or less – and ought to know that he had no reason to really be afraid.

Or should he?

Such idle thoughts were irrelevant. The last thing she needed was to develop a reputation for being slow. Rey forced herself to start moving again, this time heading towards the ship’s databanks.

The next time that Force apparition showed up, she would be ready for him.

***

“Oh, Force, not _you_ again!”

He was perched on the edge of the conference table, scowling at Rey as if it was _her_ fault that he’d turned up uninvited on the _Finalizer._ To her satisfaction, his eyes widened as he caught sight of the drawn lightsaber in her hand.

“You must be more powerful than you seem, to project your image so far,” she mused. What he wore could hardly be called fashionable, but it was closer to the styles of the Outer Rim than those favored in the new Empire.

He showed no sign of having heard her. “So, you going to try stabbing me again?”

“No,” Rey said curtly. With a quick clench of her fist, she crumpled the datapad with the latest proof-of-concept model for Hux’s precious Starkiller Base into a tiny ball, tossed it upward, then vaporized it into nothingness with a cursory jab of her saber.

The man whistled. “You have some serious anger management problems, lady. You know that, right?”

Rey bit the side of her cheek until she was sure that her face was no longer twisted into a snarl, then pulled her hood back, levelling a regal stare at him. “You are not a Jedi.”

“Really? What gave it away? I thought the shiny boots and the blaster fit right in with their aesthetic.”

“The Jedi have better hygiene.”

That wiped the insolent smirk right off his face, she noted with satisfaction. “Just because I don’t go in for the whole ‘short, dark, and menacing’ vibe doesn’t mean I don’t have hygiene,” he said, folding his arms. “Not all of us can have swanky ships to tear up whenever we feel like it. What’ve you got on this thing, anyways? Ripple baths?”

He wasn’t terrible at digging for information; she’d give him that. But _ripple baths?_ Where did he think they were, a Hutt pleasure palace? “No insignia, nor does your personal discipline indicate the military,” she murmured, moving closer. The man stepped back, matching her pace for pace, until his back was flat against the wall; evidently, he wasn’t aware that Force projections could pass through solid materials. “And not trained by the Jedi, though I suppose you would hardly notice the difference.”

“The Jedi might be pompous sons of Hutts, but they’re better than Sith,” he said, eyes narrowing.

She supposed that the red lightsaber was a dead giveaway, even to a backwards yokel such as this. “I’d be willing to bet you heard that from a Jedi.”

The man rolled his eyes. “Heard what, that a Sith’ll kill you as soon as look at you? Come to think of it, you didn’t even get a good look at me before trying to kill me, so I guess they’re wrong there.”

She tilted her head thoughtfully. “You are taking it quite well, all things considered.”

“Not like I’ve got a choice, is it?” The scowl returned. “Well, looks like we’ve got a Mandalorian standoff here. You can’t torture me for information-“

“What information would you have?” she asked, frowning. She’d thought the man was unimportant, despite his seemingly innate ability with the Force. She must have missed something in the records - perhaps he was from the Core Worlds after all-

“You tell me,” the man said, looking at her as if _she_ was the idiot. “You’re the one who brought me here.”

“I did no such thing, fool-“

The door slid open, and she whirled around, igniting her saber. General Yago stumbled backward, stammering rapidly as he caught sight of her.

“M-my apologies, Empress! I-I forgot my vine-coffee-“

She pushed the coffee cup towards him with a wave of her hand, glaring at him. At least he’d come back for it – if there was one thing she abhorred, it was waste – but he could not possibly have picked a worse moment. “Get out!”

She risked a glance over her shoulder as Yago retreated, murmuring apologies all the way. The Force apparition was staring at her in horror, mouth agape; when he spoke, the incredulity in his voice made her bristle. “Empress?! Seriously? _You’re_ Kira kriffing Ren?”

This level of idiocy was ridiculous. Out of sheer exasperation, she attempted to stab him again, with no more effect than the last time.

“Well, kark you very much, too,” he said indignantly, and promptly vanished into thin air.

Rey glared at the space where he had been, her saber still fully extended. She was still no closer to knowing who the man was, and now he was in a perfect position to spy on the Empire’s operations. It was only luck that had prevented him from showing up while she was in a strategy meeting, or managing the Knights of Ren, or even looking at the plans for Hux’s precious superweapon.

And if he ever appeared while she was speaking to Grandfather –

She muttered an old scavenger’s curse under her breath.

This was going to be a problem.


End file.
